History

January - Parliament overturns a presidential veto on anti-corruption legislation, clearing the way for creating a special unit to tackle high-level abuse.

November - Socialist Rumen Radev wins the presidential election, triggering the resignation of Prime Minister Boyko Borisov.

January - Bulgaria says it will extend a controversial fence along its border with Turkey by 80 km to help stem the flow of illegal immigrants.

January—Transitional curbs on Bulgarians' right to work and receive benefits in some EU members that have been in place since Bulgaria joined the bloc in 2007 lapse.

 June - Banking crisis. Rumors of liquidity shortfalls cause panic and run on major banks.

 July - Prime Minister Plamen Oresharski steps down after a year in office, paving the way for a snap election.

October - An inconclusive early election produces a parliament divided between a record eight parties.

November - Boyko Borisov returns to the premiership as his German party forms a coalition with fellow centre-right Reformist Bloc.

December: Russia scraps plans for the South Stream gas pipeline because of EU opposition. The project planned to pump Russian gas across the Black Sea through Bulgaria, bypassing Ukraine.

January's controversial referendum on whether to build a second Bulgarian nuclear plant is invalidated by low turnout.

February - The Bulgarian authorities say the Burgas suicide attack was most likely the work of the Lebanese group Hezbollah. Hezbollah itself denies the allegation.

Prime Minister Borisov resigns after 14 people are injured in clashes with police at anti-austerity protests.

March - After failing to persuade any of the leaders of the main political parties to form a government, President Plevneliev appointed a caretaker cabinet headed by Marin Raikov, the ambassador to France. He is tasked with organizing fresh elections.

May - The center-right Gerb party of former Prime Minister Boyko Borisov narrowly beats the Socialist Party in parliamentary elections but falls well short of a majority. The Socialists provide parliamentary support for a technocratic government headed by Plamen Oresharski.

In June, thousands of protestors took to the streets for five days over the appointment of controversial media mogul Delyan Peevski to head the national security agency. Parliament reversed the appointment, but anti-government demonstrations continued.

July —Weeks of protests over official corruption culminate in a blockade of parliament and clashes with the police.

January - Bulgaria becomes the second European country after France to ban exploratory drilling for shale gas using the extraction method called "fracking" after an overwhelming parliamentary vote.

July - A suspected suicide bomber kills five Israeli tourists and a Bulgarian driver on a bus in the Black Sea resort of Burgas.

September - Anti-Roma demonstrations in Sofia and elsewhere following the death of a youth who was hit by a van driven by relatives of a Roma kingpin.

 October—Rosen Plevneliev, from Prime Minister Borisov's center-right GERB party, beats the Socialist candidate in the presidential election.

 January - Boris Tsankov, a prominent crime journalist who specialized in reporting on the mafia in Bulgaria, is shot dead in Sofia.

June—The EU expresses concern over the reliability of Bulgarian national statistics and says they may have to be subjected to EU scrutiny.

December - A government-appointed commission finds that 45 senior Bulgarian diplomats were secret service agents during the communist era.

France and Germany are blocking Bulgaria from joining the Schengen passport-free zone, saying it still needs to make "irreversible progress" in fighting corruption and organized crime.

January - Russia's gas dispute with Ukraine cuts supplies to Bulgaria, resulting in a severe energy shortage lasting several weeks and widespread anger at the government's energy policies.

 June - Workers rally to protest at government's handling of economic crisis.

July - General election is won by the centre-right GERB party led by Sofia mayor Boiko Borisov.

July—The European Commission suspended EU aid worth hundreds of millions of euros after reports criticized the Bulgarian government for failing to take effective action against corruption and organized crime.

September—The European Commission permanently strips Bulgaria of half of the aid frozen in July over what it says is the government's failure to tackle corruption and organized crime.

February: The European Commission's interim report says Bulgaria and Romania have failed to show convincing results in their anti-graft drives.

 March - European Union freezes some infrastructure subsidies over corruption in the traffic agency.

April - The European Union calls on Bulgaria to take urgent action after two prominent gangland killings, including a senior figure in the nuclear industry.

Interior Minister Rumen Petkov resigns over police officers accused of passing state secrets to alleged crime bosses.

The government reshuffled in order to combat organized crime and the wave of contract killings. Ambassador to Germany Meglena Plugchieva appointed deputy prime minister without portfolio to oversee the use of EU funds.

  July - The European Commission suspended EU aid worth hundreds of millions of euros after reports criticized the Bulgarian government for failing to act effectively against corruption and organized crime.

September—The European Commission permanently strips Bulgaria of half of the aid frozen in July over what it says is the government's failure to tackle corruption and organized crime.

January - Bulgaria and Romania joined the European Union, raising their EU membership to 27.

 June - The European Commission calls Bulgaria to combat corruption more.

 July - The death sentences against six foreign medical workers in the HIV case in Libya are commuted to life in prison. They were repatriated to Bulgaria through a deal with the European Union.

December - Bulgarian officials condemn death sentences handed to five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor by a Libyan court. The six were found guilty of deliberately infecting Libyan children with HIV.

August—The Socialist Party, led by Sergei Stanishev, tops the polls in general elections. After weeks of wrangling, the main parties sign a coalition deal, under which he becomes prime minister.

 December: Bulgaria's contingent of 400 light infantry troops leaves Iraq. In February 2006, the parliament agreed to dispatch a non-combat guard unit.

March - Bulgaria is admitted to Nato.

June - Former King Simeon II's party, National Movement Simeon II, wins parliamentary elections. Simeon becomes premier in July.

November—Thousands march through Sofia on the 100th day of Simeon's premiership, saying he has failed to improve living standards.

Socialist Party leader Georgi Parvanov won the presidency in an election with the lowest turnout since the fall of communism. He vows to improve people's lives and speed up EU and NATO entry.

 December - Parliament agrees to destroy Soviet-made missiles by late 2002, ahead of Nato membership.

Post-communist prosecutors closed the file on Georgi Markov's case. In December, Markov was awarded Bulgaria's highest honor, the Order of Stara Planina, for his contribution to Bulgarian literature and his opposition to the communist authorities.

Protracted demolition attempts on marble mausoleum of first communist leader Georgi Dimitrov become national joke.

Mass protests over the economic crisis. Opposition boycotts parliament and calls for elections.

The interim government was installed until elections when UDF leader Ivan Kostov became prime minister.

The Bulgarian currency is pegged to the German mark.

Financial turmoil. Petur Stoyanov replaces Zhelev as president.

Bulgarian Supreme Court overturns Zhivkov's conviction.

Videnov resigns as prime minister and chairman of the BSP.

BSP's Zhan Videnov becomes prime minister.

BSP returns to power in a general election.

Mass privatisation programme.

Zhelev becomes Bulgaria's first directly elected president. UDF government resigns. Lyuben Berov heads the non-party government.

Todor Zhivkov was sentenced to seven years in prison for corruption in office.

The new constitution proclaims Bulgaria a parliamentary republic and provides many freedoms.

UDF wins election.

Economic crisis. Communist Party reinvented itself as the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) and won free parliamentary elections.

Reforms in the Soviet Union inspired demands for democratization.

Zhivkov's government tries to force the Turkish minority to assimilate and take Slavic names. Many resisted, and in 1989, some 300,000 fled the country.

Georgi Markov, a BBC World Service journalist and Bulgarian dissident, dies in London after being injected with poison from the tip of an umbrella.

Zhivkov becomes president.

Todor Zhivkov becomes Communist Party general secretary. Bulgaria becomes a staunch USSR ally.

A new constitution along Soviet lines establishes a one-party state. Economy and industry sectors nationalized.

A referendum abolished the monarchy, declaring a republic. The Communist Party won the election, and Georgi Dimitrov was elected prime minister.

World War Two - The Soviet army invaded German-occupied Bulgaria in 1944. Soviet-backed Fatherland Front takes power.

World War One. Bulgaria allies itself with Germany. Some 100,000 Bulgarian troops were killed, one of the most severe per capita losses of any country involved in the war.

Bulgaria declares itself an independent kingdom. Ferdinand assumes the title of tsar.

Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha was elected prince.

 Eastern Rumelia is merged with Bulgaria.

The Treaty of Berlin creates a much smaller Bulgarian principality. Eastern Rumelia remains under Ottoman rule.

The Treaty of San Stefano, signed by Russia and Turkey at the end of their war of 1877-78, recognizes an autonomous Bulgaria.

Nationwide uprising against Ottoman rule is violently suppressed.

Ottoman Empire completes conquest of Bulgaria. Next five centuries are known as era of the "Turkish yoke".

 Bulgaria is part of the Byzantine Empire.

Bulgarian scholars created the earliest form of the Cyrillic alphabet, later versions of which are now used in dozens of Slavonic languages.

  Bulgarian state established.

Thracian tribes settled in what is now south-eastern Bulgaria. They were subsequently subjugated by the Macedonian king Alexander the Great and later by the Roman Empire.